After falling hard for big skies and dramatic mountains, Robert Keith founded a company to restore distressed land. A stellar example? The 4,000-acre Idaho ranch where his family vacations.

Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild

Robert Keith spent childhood vacations riding horses in Cody, Wyoming; when he and Marisa Bueno married, they honeymooned in Montana. "I've always loved this part of the West," Keith says. "But I never thought I'd be able to live here. Where would I work?"

Then, eight years ago, he launched an investment firm with his friend Carl Palmer in Bozeman, Montana. Called Beartooth Capital, the company buys distressed ranch land across the region and restores it. That's how Keith, Bueno, and their daughters, Audrey and Rowan, have come to love the nearly 4,000-acre Summit Springs Ranch in central Idaho, about four hours west of their Montana residence.

In this photo: Architect Clark Stevens built a custom ladder to access the sleeping loft, tucked above the dining area in the open main room.

Kitchen

Kitchen

Beartooth hired Southern California architect Clark Stevens, who designed a 600-square-foot structure at the edge of Summit Creek. "If you're going to build a log cabin, this is the place to do it," Stevens explains. "But I wanted to approach that vernacular in a modern way. The idea was logs plus light."

In this photo: Bueno and Audrey, 2, and Rowan, 4, gather in the no-frills kitchen, where the countertop is just a slab of of sealed bamboo plywood.